The struggling ski jumpers Andreas Wellinger and Karl Geiger, like Pius Paschke, do not have to fear being kicked out of the German World Cup squad after their largely disastrous Four Hills Tournament.
“The three will definitely go to Zakopane if they want to,” said national coach Stefan Horngacher to “ARD” after the last tournament jumping in Bischofshofen. “I want to do it in the competition. They have made small steps forward. We have to continue working calmly.”
Paschke ended up in 24th place on the Paul Ausserleitner ski jump. The DSV problem children Wellinger (35th) and Karl Geiger (45th), on the other hand, also missed the second round in the fourth tournament competition – an extremely bitter result for the once so successful duo.
For Horngacher, the mediocre German tour record was no surprise.
“What I suspected in advance has been confirmed: Felix Hoffmann and Philipp Raimund were able to deliver their performance, they didn’t make any big mistakes, today they even made their biggest ones, actually,” said the 56-year-old, who is stepping down after the current season.
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Ski jumping: DSV top performers “a bit knocked out”
However, both Hoffmann and Raimund are currently “a bit knocked out,” emphasized Horngacher, “Felix on the knee, Philipp is a little sick and didn’t feel well today. But they performed well overall.”
Hoffmann now needs a more detailed medical examination, reported the German ski jumping coach. “We have to put Philipp to bed and see how he’s doing. We’ll see from day to day.”
Horngacher took off his hat to the performance of the competition in Bischofshofen, especially that of the hosts: “The Austrians fired quite a bit here. That was brutal. We have to accept that the others did much better today.”